


The Pearled Gates of Paaren Disen

by Eleanor_Guenevere



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Gen, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 13:34:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4181745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleanor_Guenevere/pseuds/Eleanor_Guenevere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happened if Lews Therin Telamon was not healed of his madness after the Kinslaying?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pearled Gates of Paaren Disen

_"Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you! A shattered, pitiful wretch. But it is not enough. You humbled me in the Hall of Servants. You defeated me at the Gates of Paaren Disen. But I am the greater now."_

 

The Betrayer of Hope paused, reconsidering. The besmirched hero had turned away again, calling for his children, asking why they hid.

 

"It will have to suffice. I would have healed you, so that you could comphrehend all the ill you have wrought. This serves me better, to loose you on the world with the rest of your Companions. And though nothing will compare to the Kinslaying, more ill will proceed from your hands. Yes, this will do as well."

 

He left. 

 

* * *

 

 

Eventually, the mad wreck of the Dawn's Prince grew tired of the empty villa. The earth yet upheaved as he stepped out into the streets of Paaren Disen. Some distance away, the Hall of Servants could be seen, twisted like a corkscrew, scorched and battered and defiled. Lews Therin payed it no mind.

 

Every step he took sent the city reeling: starscrapers screaming in agony, sewers growling far below, the odd whimper of a dog as it tried to crawl closer to the madman.

 

Every step he took pained the greatest city of all. With a sad sigh, sections began collapsing, heights warring with heights, cobblestones melting. All the trees had burned. The great Gates, with pearls from Shorelle inlaid into the spiraling, soaring curlicues of gold which gleamed through the grime, hang open, bent off of their hinges by power without control. The walls to which they were attached began sinking beneath the weight of the vines which had swelled grotesquely under the sheer amounts of saidin radiating from the Lord of the Morning.

 

Paaren Disen writhed in death throes to quiet, wonder-filled giggles.

 

* * *

 

The common voice clamored. Worries about male channelers, some of whom hid in the steddings from the taint. Fears of the Companions who walked the world, bringing destruction where they went. The Breaking, they began to call it, longing for the day rumour's wings would sing, "The Breaking is done." Yes, the survivors whispered and gossiped and warned about almost every man who could channel, when they weren't holding their breath in the bushes while such a man walked by.

 

Almost every man. No such alarm was given for the Dragon. He could not be pinpointed by communications about atrocities and enormosities, only by the abrupt lack of communication.

 

Women channelers had sought to bring him down, planning their weaves carefully in advance. They left, and were never seen again, at least, not in any recognizable form. 

 

* * *

 

They say that the Breaking has ended at last. They say that Lews Therin Telamon is dead. They say we are free from male channelers. They say there is hope, but we have sailed for a year in this overgrown boat, sleeping cheek to cheek with the livestock, female channelers worked to exhaustion to purify the rain water so that we may drink and nourish our paltry crops.

 

We have sailed for a year over all the world and under all the sky, and no land have we ever seen.


End file.
